Fatherly Duty
by silverowl33
Summary: Sportsmaster learns that his daughter, Artemis, is in college, in retirement, and in a relationship with Kid Flash. This is his reaction to it. References to cheshroy as well in this story.
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own Young Justice and will continue my other stories soon enough. Enjoy this though.**

Fatherly Duty

Sportsmaster hadn't seen his youngest, traitorous daughter since July and he was getting worried but not for the reason many might think. Jade and Paula would have come to him if she had been killed in action, albeit, for different reasons. Jade would want vengeance while Paula would want someone to be there for her. He was worried over her and some of her other teammates plotting something against him. Her and two other members of the pathetic baby Justice League-Fish Boy and Flash Brat-were gone. There was only one of getting Artemis to talk after so many years of being on the weaker, do gooder side and it was through someone she loved being harmed; the only person that he was sure that she loved unconditionally was Paula.

So he paid his former but not formally separated wife. She didn't even bat an eye at his intrusion. Either he lost his edge or so many years of being together stopped her from being afraid of him. She poured him a cup of coffee-black just the way he liked it-and gestures for him to sit down. He reluctantly did.

"So what brings you to this side of Gotham?" she asked as she took a sip of her own drink.

"Artemis," he answered. She looked surprise. Then her surprise turned into the surly mask that protected her secrets.

"You can fool the others Paula but you can't fool me. I'm your husband. Now what exactly is your daughter planning against me?" he asked. She stared at him then laughed. Sportsmaster didn't appreciate people laughing at him, not even his old wife. He growled and stood up. She smirked at him from her wheelchair as if she held all the power here. He pushed past her and headed towards their daughters' room.

It still was pretty sad looking but it looked even more empty than usual. None of Artemis' things were there. But there was something new in the room. Standing on the nightstand was a picture frame. Inside the frame was his daughter in a graduation cap and gown with a grin that would make Jade proud next to her mother and a redheaded boy. He turned around to find his wife watching him.

"Didn't think she would leave you, did you? Our most family oriented daughter left you like Jade left me and her," he snarled.

"She didn't leave me?" Paula said, "She called me a few minutes before you came in. She had time between classes."

"Classes? But she graduated-" Then it hit him. His daughter was at college. She had taken time off crime fighting to… get a degree. A small part of him wanted to laugh. She took a sabbatical to further her education? What a chump? With the skills he taught her, she didn't need college. She needed connections with the League of Shadows. Or in her case, the Justice League.

"She retired Lawrence," Paula said.

"She'll be back once she's on break," Sportsmaster said confidently.

"No she won't. It's permanent," Paula said, just as confidently.

"Permanent? The injuries she got in May shouldn't have caused any permanent damage," he said, absolutely bewildered.

"So you check up on her? Nice to know you care," Paula smiled.

"I don't care for the little traitor at all Paula. Why did she retire? Or is this some cover story?" he asked testily.

"No, it's real. She and her boyfriend got sick of near death experiences and traumatic injury experiences that they decided it would be better if they quit now before someone gets killed," Paula said.

"She retired for a stupid boy's idea?" he asked.

"It was her idea actually," Paula said. Sportsmaster looked at the photograph.

"This stupid boy? He looks like the Flash's brat?" he said, "He is, isn't he?"

"I plead the Fifth," she said. He snorted, "What are they doing now? Cozying up as study buddies for English 101?"

"Most likely. They do share an apartment and some classes," Paula was enjoying his surprise and he knew it. She teased, "Who knows? They might even get married. They've been together since she was fifteen Larry. Their fifth anniversary is coming up this winter. Would be a nice time to propose. She'll kill you if you try to hurt or even scare him."

"First of all, she could not, second, what do you think I am? Some pathetic, overly macho man looking to hurt every boy who dares think of her in a way that isn't completely innocent? She can handle herself. I made sure of that," he scoffed. He glared at his wife whose smile just got a little bit bigger. He muttered to himself and left. This visit was nearly fruitless.

Later that day, he had found just about everything he needed to know about Artemis and her "boyfriend" Wallace Rudolph West. He didn't know what made him want to gag more, that his daughter quit her calling to protect a boy or that the boy she cared for was a goody two shoes brat of a hero. He didn't know why he was so angry at the thought of Artemis having a boyfriend. She could handle herself and it was bound to happen eventually. With the amount of training and work he made his daughters put in, they were bound to be too busy to chase after boys in high school. Sure when they were adults, he hoped they married some higher ups in Ra's League of Shadows where they would have kids in their twenties so he could start their training before middle age robbed him of his body. With his and the League of Assassin's training, they were bound to be some of the best assassins and criminals on the planet.

Back to Artemis and the boy. They lived in Palo Alto. He learned about his daughter and the boy's schedules. Sportsmaster was pleased to know that there were two bedrooms in the apartment. They had a dog whose name he didn't care to learn. Their downstairs neighbor was an old deaf woman. It was too perfect. He briefly questioned as to whether or not he could claim this as a fatherly duty. She was nineteen, technically a legal adult. Then again, she technically was still a teenager which put her under his parental jurisdiction. Fatherly duty was a great cover story for what he was really doing which was making sure she wasn't plotting against him or the Light and actually retired.

He stood outside the apartment at four in the morning. He opened the door quickly and shot the dog with a tranquilizer so it couldn't wake anyone up. He crept as quietly as possible down the hall. Unlike his and Paula's apartment, this place didn't have any creaky spots. He opened one bedroom door and saw two bodies in the bed. Swallowing some unforeseen anger, he crept over. The boy was closest by him so he was given the second tranquilizer dart. His daughter, however, got a syringe with a smaller amount of tranquilizer. She'd wake up in an hour instead of four. His daughter moved while he administered it but she stayed asleep. If he was still in charge of her training, then she'd be doing extra sets to make up for not waking up.

He wasn't too pleased with the boy in her bed so he dragged him to the second bedroom. It was clearly some sort of guest room. He just left the boy on top of the covers. He hoped the kid froze in his boxers and t-shirt. There was nothing in this second bedroom except for a two coats in the closet. He ventured back into the living room. The dog was still asleep on the couch. There were some magazines on the table. There were two types, one was science centered, the other was more outdoors-y/athletic. Each kid had a stake in each magazine type. He saw some dumbbells in the corner of the apartment.

He moved onto the kitchen. Nothing out of place there. Just some pots, pans, cups, silverware, plates, and bowls. There was plenty of food-healthy and junk-in the kitchen. He found a stack of cookbooks in one of the cabinets. They were all addressed to the boy as birthday or Christmas gifts. There was even one from his daughter on desserts. He found where his daughter kept her tea.

Sportsmaster went into the apartment's one bathroom. It was clean. Two toothbrushes were in a white mug on the bathroom sink. A blue tube of toothpaste sat behind the spigot. There was nothing suspicious under the sink, just cleaning supplies, tampons, and more toiletries. He opened up the medicine cabinet that was behind the mirror. He found ibuprofen, Tums, some make up, bandages, anti-biotic ointment, hydrogen peroxide, q tips, a suture kit, and… birth control. He forced himself to take a breath. Plenty of women took birth control for reasons other than prescribed reason of not having children. Paula told him that it helped with menstruation and acne which is why she got it for Jade right after she got out of prison and who was he kidding? Jade was his less…innocent daughter when it came to that.

Speaking of her, one of his associates mentioned something about her and Red Arrow. He'd be sure to talk to her and that boy later. For now, he just chose to believe Artemis took birth control to help with her woman problems. He had to deal with the first one alone because Jade had run away again and Paula was still in jail. It was bad. Sportsmaster remembered how it happened. He woke up to her cursing and he found her standing over her bed, swearing at the mess. She wasn't an idiot who didn't know what was going on. With the help of Jade, public school health class, and a pamphlet he had taken from a hospital, she knew this day was coming. He told her to clean up while he went to the nearest pharmacy where some woman helped him grab what he needed. Training with her that week was awful. She kept hunching over from the cramps until he allowed her to take something for the pain.

He made his way back to the bedroom where his youngest daughter was sleeping. A safe in the closet held her and the boy's superhero costumes and her bow and arrows. Other than clothes, shoes, and some hats, there was nothing else in the closet. The first dresser he rifled through was the boy's. There was nothing out of the ordinary in his except for a yellow and red pair of Flash boxers. That made him snort. He found nothing wrong with Artemis' drawers until he got to her underwear drawer and saw something red and lacy before quickly shutting the drawer. He assured himself that it was just plain old underwear. They made girls' things too frilly for his liking.

That's when he looked into the drawers of the nightstands by the bed. On the boy's side there was a copy of _The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_ , a pocket sized copy of some physics book, a stub of a pencil, and a phone charger. His daughter's drawers are what made his heart stop. His brain ignored everything else in her drawers as soon as he found the box of condoms in her drawer. He had to sit down. Sportsmaster sat where the boy was sleeping and had to confront an ugly truth: his daughter was sexually active with a do good super brat and from the looks of it, she was starting it.

He probably had about five minutes left until his daughter woke up. So he did what any good assassin father would do. He handcuffed his daughter's ankles and wrists and placed the key on the nightstand. Once he was done with her, she could rescue herself since she was _so_ grown up. She had flipped onto her back and started groaning. He rubbed the spot in between her shoulder blades.

"Can you get me a Tums Baywatch?" she mumbled as she tried to stretch. Artemis quickly flipped over and started to struggle in the handcuffs. The adrenaline kicked in once she learned that she was restricted.

"Forgetting what I taught you?" he asked.

"Dad?" she asked, incredulous, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Well it's not another test. I just wanted a father daughter chat," he said innocently.

"And this was your idea of starting one? What did you drug me with and where's, where's my dog?" she asked rather quickly.

"A tranq and your dog is still asleep on the couch. Your boyfriend, however, is in the other bedroom. Looked like a comfortable place for a college aged brat like himself to sleep. I think he should sleep there more often," he said. He didn't have to have too much light in the bedroom to see that his daughter was blushing furiously.

"So you're retired?" he said.

"Yeah so? You don't have to check in on me," she said angrily.

"Call it a fatherly duty," he smirked. She stopped struggling and glared at him. He kept at it, "So I hear that too many close calls led to your idea of retiring hmm?"

"Yeah. Better to quit before something bad, like Mom's accident, happens to one of us," she said pointedly. It was his turn to feel unjust anger towards her. It wasn't like he could turn back time and undo what happened. Paula didn't blame anyone.

"So childhood fears pushed you out of the game," he surmised.

"It isn't childhood fear," she said defensively, "It's a legitimate one and it's nice to be normal."

"Normal?" he repeated. What was so great about normalcy? It was boring and dull and stupid. Even being a hero had something flashy to go along with it.

"Yeah Dad, normal," she challenged him.

"So you care about this West guy?" he asked.

"Yeah. I do. A lot," she said sharply.

"Interesting," he said. He stared her down in silence.

"What do you want?" she asked, hardly reacting and meeting his eyes.

"Just some answers," he said. She rolled her eyes. He elected to ignore that.

"So how long have you and the Flash's protégé been dating? And don't bother lying," he said.

"A while," she said.

"A while," he repeated.

"A long while," she said.

"Like five years almost?" he asked. She kept her face blank. A perfect mask. But he knew.

"Can't I fulfill my fatherly duties before you marry this boy?" he asked.

"We aren't, no, we-no, we aren't getting married," she stumbled over herself, trying to explain, "Who told you that?"

"Just a father's intuition," he grinned. She might not have shown it but he knew she was shaken up a little by his question. The drugs were helping.

"So am I walking you down the aisle, or will the Flash do it?" he teased.

"We're not-we're not, gah. Will you leave that be? We're not getting married," she said. He ran his fingers through her blonde hair-which was hard to do since she pulled away from him-and laughed a little. He just had to keep throwing her off.

"Maybe I'm just old fashioned but one would think after five years of dating, giving up your career, and having sex on a regular basis would lead to marriage vows," he laughed.

"What?" she sputtered, "How long have you been-"

"Long enough to know where your contraceptives and lingerie are," he said quickly. Roughly an hour but it sounded like he had been watching them for longer. He felt a little gross teasing her like this but she deserved it after what he found and with whom. She lost her ability to keep a straight face and now her eyes were bugging out of her sockets and the violent blush was back.

"So how old were you when you started intimacy? Nineteen, eighteen, seventeen," her straight face came back immediately after he said seventeen and she didn't look him in the eye for half a second so seventeen it is, "Sixteen, fifteen? No? You're not going to answer? I can always get Jade."

"No!" she yelled. He smirked. Jade probably had a better chance of squeezing the truth out of her than him.

"Your call baby girl," he said, "And don't worry, I didn't castrate the boy as of yet. So you can still have your fun." She looked absolutely mortified. "Well, their tranqs wears off around eight so have fun with the handcuffs until then. Remember, I got eyes and ears everywhere. I hope you can make your eight am Vietnamese literature class on time. Good bye baby girl."

He pinched her cheek-something she loathed since she was little-and got up. He was nearly out the bedroom door when he heard her say, "So you traveled across the country to scare me off of sex?"

"No, more like to see why you're retired," he said more to himself than her. He had gotten more involved with his cover story than his actual purpose.

XXX

He went back to Gotham where he more graciously accepted the coffee Paula made for him. He still had a million thoughts running through his head. He didn't like seeing her as an adult. As a kid and a teen, her focus had more or less been about this family and later, its crimes but still about their family. Now as a young adult-how he loathed that word on his youngest-her focus turned outward to friends and school and boys, one in particular. The little criminal he was trying to raise was replaced by a young heroine. That was the worst thing possible for him. She did not grow up to be what he wanted. Now she was her own person and there was not a snowball's chance in hell for him to change that. Jade was a criminal but she hated being under his thumb.

"Hi Dad." Speak of the devil, his eldest poured herself a cup of coffee. Paula had to leave for work. Jade slipped in through the window. He grunted back. His mind was too focused on his younger daughter to remember about the older's transgressions with Red Arrow, another redheaded do gooder.

"So I heard from Mom that you went to talk to Artemis about Kid Flash and her," Jade smirked at him. He glared back.

"I take it that it didn't go well," Jade smiled, "She's always been rather independent. Even with the redhead around."

At least that was good news. She wasn't a blubbering romantic sap.

"When did she?" he wasn't sure how to word it without giving himself away.

"New year's is when they started dating," Jade took a slug of her coffee, "She was fifteen. He was sixteen."

That wasn't the answer he wanted but he tried again.

"Do you know if they have…" He trailed off. Jade laughed.

"Please Dad. She might be on birth control but she's been on it since she was sixteen to help with other things instead," she knew that he disliked the word period, "Besides. The night of her eighteenth birthday I caught them trying to undress. I scared them off it and may have threatened castration. It's been taken care of. Their apartment has two bedrooms."

"You did good," he said. Even though they both went through the same training, he always did like to keep Artemis a little more naïve and innocent. But Jade's methods were too little, too late.

"You did such a good job that Artemis now owns condoms and lingerie," he said. Jade nearly dropped her mug.

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"You heard me. I had my own interrogation with Artemis and by the way, that tranquilizer is great for keeping people off balance, and I've come to learn that you were too little, too late," he said. Unbalancing his kids was an excellent activity. Why didn't he do it more often?

"What do you mean late?" she asked, her eyes narrowed and her grin was nowhere to be seen.

"Seventeen, little girl, seventeen is when our baby girl grew up," he said. She looked horrified and angry. She put the mug in the sink.

"Excuse me, I have a pair of teenagers to threaten," she said and slipped out the window. Sportsmaster's coffee began to taste good again, knowing he had someone else in his corner of ruining Artemis' ability to be less naïve and innocent than they wanted her to be.

Realization hit him like a ton of bricks when he realized he didn't ask about Red Arrow. Oh well, he could get a head start on that and find the young man himself. What was it with redheads and his girls? Jade may have been the less innocent one of his daughters but if she was doing the same thing as Artemis was doing with the Flash Brat, well then he'd just have to get Artemis in his corner of ruining Jade's fun. It was nice to still have some semblance of control over his daughters.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi there! I still don't own Young Justice. This chapter is shorter than my first because I was a little more unsure on how to write Jade interacting with Sportsmaster. I hope you still like it.**

Sportsmaster cracked his neck as he scaled the apartment building. He knew that Jade had a place here where he could clean up, eat, and rest. And stitch up the stab wound properly. The guy he was supposed to "eliminate"-man he hated the euphemisms he had to use- had way more security detail than he had been told and he had thought for himself. Either way, the man was "eliminated" so he was expecting fifty thousand in his various offshore accounts by sunrise. He stopped at one floor to take a sip from his water bottle.

"Are you a superhero?" a young girl asked, half of her body hanging out the window. The idiot was going to fall out.

"You're dreaming. Go back to bed," he said and the kid obeyed. It was not even three in the morning, why was that brat up? She probably would have fallen out the window. His girls wouldn't have. He trained them to be scaling buildings, landing from falling out of floors where the number had two digits, and he even had them roof hopping long before the Bat Brat did. They were professionals. This kid was dumb.

Two floors higher was Jade's apartment. Sportsmaster hauled himself over the balcony railing and easily pried the sliding door open. He found himself in a living room and his leg hit the side of the coffee table. He scowled. It didn't hurt it was just an annoyance. He noticed a book on the coffee table. Its title was The Psychological Effects of Parents on Their Children. Jade wasn't the mopey type so it probably had nothing to do with him or Paula. Under it was another book on psychological torture. Jade liked mind games. It was good to know that she still researched to improve her techniques. Now where were the spare clothes he had hidden here months ago and her first aid kit?

"Dad… what are you doing here?" Jade asked. His eyes quickly flicked up and then back to the task at hand. Something about her seemed different. It was probably the pony tail. She didn't wear it up often.

"Just stitching myself up little girl. I don't think I have to explain myself," he said. A green canvas bag was tossed to his feet. It had his spare clothes.

"Thanks little girl. I didn't want to wreck your apartment," he said.

"Why was it here?" she said after a long pause.

"This town has a lot of people who want others dead and have the money to afford me. You do the math," he replied. She said nothing. "What? No response about me intruding on your turf?"

"I don't care," she said.

"Of course you don't," he muttered.

"It's not even my territory I… go where the money flows," she said, "This is just a lay low place for me. Is the Light here?"

"No, this is some of my other contracts," he said.

"Well," her voice now had that tone that reminded him of a smug cat, "I'm off. There's leftovers in the fridge."

"You're not even dressed for a job. Where are you going?" he asked. She had been wearing sweatpants and a baggy shirt when he had looked up and hadn't left the doorway so it wasn't like she changed. He cut the thread and taped a clean piece of gauze over it. Then he looked up. Jade was gone. He went to the kitchen. She slid a takeout container towards him and stepped away from the counter so he could fully see her.

"When the hell did that happen?" he asked.

"What? My haircut?" she asked in a truly false innocent tone.

"Yeah Jade, when did you cut your hair? Does your mother like it? Oh for God's sake when did Broken Arrow knock you up? I thought you said you two separated," he said louder than he intended to.

"Well I got my haircut a few weeks ago and I got pregnant nine months ago so now I really must get going," she said, "So are you going to drive me to the hospital, or hide when the ambulance gets here because the contractions are about eight minutes apart so I shouldn't be driving."

How on Earth he managed to get stuck driving her to the hospital, he didn't know. All he knew is that this was the exact opposite of his job. He killed people and now he had to bring his daughter to the hospital to "bring new life into the world." He hated euphemisms.

He only said one –well actually three- words to the doctor, "I'm her father." The doctor didn't seem that convinced but Jade vouched for him.

"Are you going to tell the kid's father?" he asked. He was in an understandably foul mood that most people had after they had been stabbed and then had to take their daughter to the hospital. He hated hospitals. Cops were always sending notices to hospitals about injured suspects. Sportsmaster rally had no choice when it came to Paula. He heard during the trial that if he didn't take her there, she most likely would have died of her injuries. He hated that.

"No, he's too busy trying to find his brother right now," Jade said as a nurse began to check her over. "If you can ask around, maybe we can help find his brother and Roy can put his guilt behind him. That it wasn't his fault his brother nearly died."

"I don't think that that's a good idea," he said.

"Why not? If he could meet his brother then he can forgive his father and get his life back on track. And be a father to your granddaughter," Jade said.

"We have family psychologists if you are interested," the nurse said as she wrote something down on the checkboard.

"We're fine," he and Jade said simultaneously.

"Should I call your mother?" he asked her when the nurse left.

"No, I was thinking of bringing my daughter to her after she's born," Jade said.

"How many people know you are pregnant again?" he asked. A granddaughter, he was going to have a granddaughter. Was he old now?

"Only me. Artemis suspected it in the first trimester but I have been avoiding her for months. I don't want her or Kid Idiot to get involved or try and sway me," Jade shrugged. She blinked hard. Another contraction. Paula was like that. She acted as if it didn't hurt that much but his hand told a different story. It was a good thing that he kept the hand splint after Jade's birth because he needed it again for Artemis. Jade misinterpreted his silence.

"No, Artemis is not pregnant either. I doubt the two have so much as hugged after I talked to them," Jade said with a hint of jealousy and pride in her voice. What? He had more of a chance raising Artemis than her. She was the one who ran away. He didn't force her out. Artemis was left behind with him, of course he was going to be more involved with her.

"I'm not worried about her I'm just thinking about your mother," he snapped back. Jade was briefly silent. Briefly.

"What about her?" Jade asked.

"Just about her pregnancies with you and your sister," he said. They stayed silent until the doctor came in.

"The nurse told me you were nearing ten centimeters and you are there," a balding doctor said, "Now is the baby's father coming soon or would you like your father as a stand in?"

"I'll stand. The father has a family emergency," Sportsmaster said. Jade looked at him in surprise.

"What? Your mother would kill me if she knew I let you give birth alone little girl," he said defensively. She shrugged and nodded. The birth went on without a hitch though Sportsmaster was sorely regretting throwing out that old hand splint. He only held his granddaughter once and that was when he took her from the nurse to give to her daughter.

Even though he would kill anyone who dared to suggest it, he always did love Jade's smile. She looked like her mother after succeeding in a hard mission. The look Jade was giving her daughter was reminiscent of the look Paula gave their daughters twenty four and twenty years ago respectively.

"Her name is Lian Alice Harper," she said.

"The Alice doesn't surprise me. Lian does," he said.

"Oh so I did what many people can do, surprise you," she said with the slow playful drawl.

"I was thinking you would name her Catherine for Cat. Or Lauren after me," he said. She rolled her eyes at him.

"Do you think it's time to call your mother and sister?" he asked.

"Just give me some more time," Jade said. She held her finger against her daughter's cheek. Lian instantly began to root.

"Put your finger in her hand," he said.

"It doesn't surprise me that you still like that joke," she remarked.

"Just do it," he said. She complied. He smiled as Jade nearly jumped out of her skin from the infant's tight grip. Jade's smile got a little bigger. Jade stared at her child as if she would disappear if she looked away.

"Just tell me when you're ready to go home," he said. The shock should wear off soon enough.

XXX

"Lawrence," Paula said politely as she poured him a cup of coffee. The clock was almost at midnight and the TV was on and showed thousands watching the big ball in New York City.

"Paula," he nodded.

"Jade told me what you did for her," she kissed his cheek.

"You would have killed me if I had let her go to the hospital room alone," he said.

"I was talking about her Christmas present," Paula clarified.

"Eh, a girl deserves her father. Even if he is a do good has been," he shrugged.

"You know that the door is always open for you two, even if you won't clean up your acts," she said carefully, "But, I think the door opened up a little wider for you."

"It did huh?" he said trying to sound bored. He did like coming home even if Paula hated what he did. He noticed that she was wheeling herself closer to him.

"One!" the people on the TV shouted as Paula kissed him. He stiffened at first but then relaxed as long forgotten feelings arose. Sportsmaster couldn't remembered the last time they kissed. It had to have been before the accident, before the trial, before everything went wrong.

"You know I think the best way to show your gratitude is to show it," he said playfully, like they were in their mid-twenties instead of their mid-forties and the kids were fast asleep.

"Don't push your luck," she smiled as she kissed him again.


End file.
